By Doug Mager
Mid America Live got wind of the project last February as the Butler airport commission had received a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration seeking their comment, considering that the 700 foot tall turbines certainly could create a hazard for local aircraft. While it had already been determined that the closest turbines wouldn’t be directly in a flight path, it was requested by the commission that the closest one or two be moved a bit further out just for safety’s sake.
Short of more information, we made contact the company in charge of the project, Harvest Ridge Wind Farms of Lenexa KS for comment. The reply was yes, indeed plans were moving ahead and that all information available online was correct, which included some 53, roughly 700 foot tall, electricity generating wind turbines spread out over 40,000 acres north of Butler and east of Passaic.
Wanting to know more, we paid a visit to the Bates county Recorder of Deeds to find that there were 109 land leases on the books for the project. Subsequently, those leased areas were shaded onto the pages of the Bates county plat book and there appeared to be a lot of gaps, indicating many more would be needed to get this thing off the ground.
To confirm this, Mid America Live placed a call to the recorder of deeds in Jasper county (home to many turbines near Joplin) to get an idea of how many leases would be needed to make the Bates county wind farm a reality. The answer, followed by a giggle, was “it would need to be lot more than 109. Like 100 times that many.”
As word of the wind farm spread, many locals were quick to voice their opinion which generally brought a quick yes or no, and our very informal survey garnered a lot more no’s. But would that be enough to kill the project?
Apparently so, it’s official- over the past few weeks those who did sign leases were informed by Harvest Ridge by certified letter that yes indeed, the project is off the table due to a lack of interest by the majority of landowners in the area.
As an added note there are two solar panel farms in the works located near Amsterdam and both of which, encompassing about 4,000 acres each, are on track with a completion date yet to be announced. Mid America Live will provide updates on those as they become available.
